Determination of arsenic species in mainstream cigarette smoke based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

In this work, arsenic species in mainstream cigarette smoke condensates was systemically studied with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was utilized for analysis of the physical forms of arsenic, and no particle arsenic was observed in mainstream cigarette smoke condensates. The solvent extraction experiments proved that the water-soluble arsenic was the main species in mainstream cigarette smoke condensates, which was consistent with the result of single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Furthermore, speciation of arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid was investigated using high performance weak anion exchange chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection. The developed high performance liquid chromatography coupled inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method was successfully applied to the determination of arsenic species in mainstream cigarette smoke condensates with satisfactory recoveries. Four arsenic species were detected in the mainstream cigarette smoke condensates from four brands of commercial available cigarettes, and there was a great difference between the arsenic content and composition among the different brands of cigarettes. It is found that arsenate was the main species in all tested cigarette samples.